W.Va. Senate candidate gibes Manchin for his ties to Mylan
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A Western Pennsylvania company has become an issue in a closely watched U.S. Senate race in West Virginia.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, the Republican challenging incumbent Democrat Joe Manchin, accused the senator at a campaign rally in Charleston, W.Va., Tuesday night of being a shill for Washington County-based Mylan. Mr. Manchin’s daughter, Heather Bresch, isthe CEO of Mylan.
Mr. Morrisey has strongly criticized Mylan since 2016, when the pharmaceutical company significantly raised the price ofits EpiPen.
As West Virginia’s attorney general, Mr. Morrisey questioned whether Mylan violated antitrust laws or defraudedthe state’s Medicaid program by shortchanging the government onEpiPen rebates.
Heurged the U.S. Department of Justice to throw out a $465 million settlement with Mylan for overcharging Medicaid for the EpiPen.The settlement was later finalized.
Mr. Manchin has said that he shared the concerns aboutMylan with his fellow lawmakers. But speaking at the campign rally Tuesday night, headlined by President Donald Trump, Mr. Morrisey once again said Mr. Manchin was a shillfor Mylan.
Mr. Trump was in the Mountain State to boost Mr. Morrisey’s campaign in one of the most closely watched Senateraces this November.
Republicans covet Mr. Manchin’s seat. West Virginia is likely the most proTrump of the 10 states that went for the president in 2016 and have a Democratic senator up for reelection this fall.
Yet Republicans have privately been less confident about their prospects in West Virginia. Mr. Morrisey is still bruised after a contentious, three-way primary for the GOP nomination in May, and Mr. Manchin’s unique political brand in the state is proving tobe enduring so far.
Thelimited public polling since the May primary has shown Mr. Manchin with a healthylead over Mr. Morrisey, who has come under withering attacks from Democrats over his own past lobbying ties to the pharmaceutical industry. And Mr. Manchin is a friendly figure among Republican senators and has aided them on several of the party’s legislative priorities, such as confirming Justice Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. SupremeCourt last year.
Mr. Manchin has touted his independence from the party and has declined to criticize Mr. Trump, who has repeatedly mocked the Democratic senator and slammed him for voting against other key party priorities, such as the GOP tax lawlate last year.
Mr. Trump called Mr. Morrisey to the podium Tuesday night, and the candidate lavished the president with praise while attacking Mr. Manchin for having “called Hillary [Clinton] warm, compassionate, engaging, tough. Can you actuallybelieve that?”
From the time Mylan acquired EpiPen in 2007 to 2016, the price of the drug, used for the emergency treatment of severe food or beesting allergies, increased fromabout $100 to $608.
Mylan’s legal headquarters are in the Netherlands, but it runs its operations out ofoffices in Cecil.